History CanonWelding / Literature

* Keith Roberts' short story "Unlikely Meeting", published in ''Interzone'' #88, has teenage witch Anita meet Kaeti from ''Kaeti and Company''. Since Kaeti and company are a UniversalAdaptorCast anyway, he doesn't need to worry much about how it all fits together. (They've both read each others' books but it's not even particularly clear whether that's MutuallyFictional or ATrueStoryInMyUniverse.)

* Keith Roberts' short story "Unlikely Meeting", published in ''Interzone'' #88, has teenage witch Anita meet Kaeti from ''Kaeti and Company''. Since Kaeti and company are a UniversalAdaptorCast anyway, he doesn't need to worry much about how it all fits together. (They've both read each others' books but it's not even particularly clear whether that's MutuallyFictional or ATrueStoryInMyWorld.)

* ''Literature/FallOrDodgeInHell'' by Creator/NealStephenson'' is a sequel to ''Literature/{{Reamde}}'' that also includes references to ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' (which is itself strongly tied to ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'').

* Literature/FallOrDodgeInHell'' by Creator/NealStephenson'' is a sequel to ''Literature/{{Reamde}}'' that also includes references to ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' (which is itself strongly tied to ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'').

** In one of the ''Literature/CrystalSinger'' novels, the protagonist travels in a BB Ship, the unique form of space travel featured in her earlier ''Literature/TheShipWhoSang''.

*** Ultimately, Dr Asimov merged three (at least) different continuities; the ''Literature/RobotStories'' (specifically ''Literature/IRobot'' and the ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' sequels), ''Literature/TheEmpireNovels'', and the ''Literature/{{Foundation|Series}}'' series itself.

* The final novels in Creator/AnneRice's ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' tie Lestat's story into that of Literature/TheMayfairWitches.

* Creator/LarryNiven originally had two continuities: the first was the "slowboat" stories of early colonization of space by humanity (featuring the novels ''Literature/WorldOfPtavvs'', the Gil Hamilton stories, and ''Literature/AGiftFromEarth''), while the second featured faster-than-light travel and aliens (featuring the stories of Beowulf Shaeffer, Louis Wu, and the ''Literature/{{Ringworld}}''. And then he wrote his short story "A Relic of the Empire", which combined the two continuities and created the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' universe.

* The first novel in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/NomesTrilogy'', ''Literature/{{Truckers}}'', takes place in the (real) town of Grimethorpe, but in the later books the Store is relocated to Blackbury, which is also the setting of the Literature/JohnnyMaxwellTrilogy. (Although the later republishing of Terry's early short stories has revealed that "Blackbury" was ''always'' his go-to town name, including in an antecedent to the ''Nomes Trilogy'' called "Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even Moor".)

* Narita Ryohgo wrote links establishing that his three series of light novels -- ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'', ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' and ''Literature/{{Vamp}}'' -- all take place in one universe. For example, Shizuo from ''Durarara'' mentions getting into a fight with person strongly implied to be one of the ''Baccano!'' characters.

* Members of a family named "Hempstock" have appeared in quite a few seemingly unconnected works by Creator/NeilGaiman, including ''Literature/{{Stardust}}'', ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' and, most predominately, ''Literature/TheOceanAtTheEndOfTheLane''. Death from ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' also gets a mention in ''Stardust''.

* Creator/MatthewReilly: After years of hints - the Supernova from ''Literature/TempleMatthewReilly'' popping up as an urban legend in ''Area 7'', Astro appearing in both the Scarecrow adventure ''Hell Island'' and the West novels - it's outright confirmed in ''The Four Legendary Kingdoms'', the fourth Literature/JackWest Jr book, that the two series take place in the same universe, with [[spoiler:Scarecrow appearing as a main character. And then ''The Three Secret Cities'' even off-handedly reveals that ''Literature/TheTournament'' is also a canon historical event, integrating that one too.]]

* Creator/MatthewReilly: After years of hints - the Supernova from ''Temple'' popping up as an urban legend in ''Area 7'', Astro appearing in both the Scarecrow adventure ''Hell Island'' and the West novels - it's outright confirmed in ''The Four Legendary Kingdoms'', the fourth Literature/JackWest Jr book, that the two series take place in the same universe, with [[spoiler:Scarecrow appearing as a main character. And then ''The Three Secret Cities'' even off-handedly reveals that ''Literature/TheTournament'' is also a canon historical event, integrating that one too.]]

* Creator/MatthewReilly: After years of hints - the Supernova from ''Temple'' popping up as an urban legend in ''Area 7'', Astro appearing in both the Scarecrow adventure ''Hell Island'' and the West novels - it's outright confirmed in ''The Four Legendary Kingdoms'', the fourth Literature/JackWest Jr book, that the two series take place in the same universe, with [[spoiler:Scarecrow appearing as a main character. And then ''The Three Secret Cities'' even off-handedly reveals that ''Literatire/TheTournament'' is also a canon historical event, integrating that one too.]]

* Creator/MatthewReilly novels often drop references to his other works. It kicked up a notch when a character from a Scarecrow novella appeared in the Jack West Jr books, [[spoiler:and up a few more notches when Scarecrow himself (protagonist of the eponymous series) shows up as a main character in the fourth Jack West Jr. novel, while references were made to other Scarecrow novels]]. ''Temple'' and ''The Tournament'' are also mentioned in the Scarecrow and Jack West series, respectively.

* Narita Ryohgo wrote links establishing that his three series of light novels -- ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' and ''Vamp!'' -- all take place in one universe. For example, Shizuo from ''Durarara'' mentions getting into a fight with person strongly implied to be one of the ''Baccano!'' characters.

* In general: a fix-up is the term for a novel created by welding multiple short stories together. Wiki/TheOtherWiki has [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fix-up a list of them.]]

* Creator/MatthewReilly novels often drop references to his other works. It kicked up a notch when a character from a Scarecrow novella appeared in the Jack West Jr books, [[spoiler:and up a few more notches when Scarecrow himself (protagonist of the eponymous series) shows up as a main character in the fourth Jack West Jr. novel, while references were made to other Scarecrow novels]].

* While Creator/KimNewman has seeded connections between his books since the beginning, the short story "Literature/ColdSnap" seems to be a concentrated effort to tie them ''all'' together. A "Literature/DiogenesClub" story (and therefore featuring characters whose AlternateUniverse selves appear in the ''Literature/AnnoDracula'' novels) it adds characters from his early work such as ''Literature/{{Jago}}'', and even features the villain from his ''Series/DoctorWho'' novella ''Time And Relative''. The connection seems to be a case of TheMultiverse, rather than a single world, since some of the characters are more or less explicitly indicated to be alternate versions of the ones from the novels; this may have been the only way to tie the fairly light-hearted action-adventure of the Diogenes Club series to a set of works that shade into outright horror. The events of ''Time and Relative'' are explicitly described by a character with knowledge of the multiverse as having happened in "a continuum several path-forks away from our own", and the ending hints that the events of ''Jago'' will go differently in the Diogenes timeline because of the Club's involvement.

* Narita Ryohgo wrote links establishing that his three series of light novels - ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'' and ''Vamp!'' - all take place in one universe. For example, Shizuo from ''Durarara'' mentions getting into a fight with person strongly implied to be one of the ''Baccano!'' characters.

* Andrzej Pilipiuk has connected his Literature/JakubWedrowycz stories with his more serious trilogy called ''Kuzynki'' (''Cousins'') - Jakub is mentioned by name in second volume and makes a cameo in third, combined with the illustration to leave no doubt that this is indeed him. This is odd, because in first book of the trilogy Jakub is clearly fictional as one of the characters reads his books and considers them [[SelfDeprecation the evidence that modern Polish literature is terrible]].

* Creator/AgathaChristie's AuthorAvatar Ariadne Oliver seems to tie several of her series together. She originally appeared in the [[Literature/ParkerPyneInvestigates Parker Pyne]] stories (as did Miss Lemon). Then she became established as a Literature/HerculePoirot character, starting with ''Cards On the Table'' (which also featured Superintendent Battle, who'd previously appeared in the two novels starring Bundle Brent). Then she was the main character in the 1961 novel ''The Pale Horse'', which also featured the vicar's wife from the Literature/MissMarple novel ''The Moving Finger''. And in ''Murder in Three Acts'', Poirot meets Mr Satterthwaite, who previously appeared in ''Literature/TheMysteriousMrQuin'' collection of short stories. Literature/TommyAndTuppence are also linked, since the same slightly unhinged old lady appears in ''The Pale Horse'', the Miss Marple novel ''The Sleeping Murder'', and the Tommy and Tuppence novel ''By the Pricking of my Thumbs'', despite ''Partners in Crime'' having them refer to Poirot as a fictional character. Then again, ''Partners in Crime'' mentions Poirot, but not ''Agatha Christie'', and the novel that Tommy references is ''The Big Four'', one of the ones narrated by Hastings, so maybe it was, in-universe, written by Hastings, Watson-style.

** ''Literature/TheSpaceTrilogy'': ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' contains not only Myth/{{Merlin}} as a real, historical character, along with the rest of Myth/{{Arthurian Legend}}, but one of the main characters interrogates him regarding "Numinor", a misspelling (or obsolete spelling) of "Numénor", from ''Creator/JRRTolkien'''s ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' and surrounding legendarium, which was unpublished at the time. This is surprising on the one hand for its implications for the worlds in question, as well as unsurprising because of the authors' close friendship and the fact that both canons are set on Earth but at different times (the inestimable past and the present). It's all the more incredible to realize that it took 32 years for ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' to be published (in 1977) after ''Literature/ThatHideousStrength'' (in 1945), making it surely among the longest complete payoffs for an EasterEgg.

And lest we forget, ''Salem's Lot'' takes place in the same city as ''Jerusalem's Lot'', an earlier short story, confirmed to be in the Franchise/CthulhuMythos. Therefore, ''The Dark Tower'' series is part of the Mythos by extension. Oh and as mentioned above {{Transformers}}, Series/DoctorWho, Franchise/SherlockHolmes, and everything else on this page has crossed over with the Cthulhu Mythos.

** ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'' mentions the cannon from ''Literature/TheBegumsMillions''. (Insert inevitable joke about "[[IncrediblyLamePun Cannon Welding]]" here.)

** Additionally, a couple of Magrs's stories (some ''Who'', some not) strongly imply that "the Ministry for Incursions And Other Wonders" is the full name of the Ministry from ''[[Series/TheAvengers1960s The Avengers]]''. One of his Eighth Doctor short stories goes as far as to suggest that the Ministry/MIAOW is also the organisation [[Series/ThePrisoner running the Village]].

* The ''Literature/FiveKingdoms'' series is set in the same {{Multiverse}} as that of the author's previous work, ''Literature/TheBeyonders.'' Two characters who died in the previous series show up in the world's shared afterlife in ''Five Kingdoms,'' and it's mentioned by those characters that the creatures known as torivors who trouble the Outskirts are a problem in their world, too.